A Song on All Sides
by MaijiMary Huang
Summary: He was the only new variable, our only possible trump card in 500 years. "Go," said the king. "Bring me my 'son'." He laughed. (contains swearing)


**I. The view from the ocean**

The heavy door swung open, and Hokushin stepped into the generals' quarters. I barely managed to stop myself from jumping to my feet. The other generals, far more senior than I, were more composed as they rose from their seats. But I could tell they too were anxious to hear the news.

"What did the king say?" I asked. "What was all that laughter in the tower? Are we going to further investigate the break at the edge of the territory? The intrusion of the Spirit World? And what about those energy fluctuations?"

Hokushin didn't speak immediately. He looked at us, weighing his response before answering. "In a manner of speaking, yes," he replied. "To all of the above. The king has given us a new mission."

"And?" said Touou, at the same time I blurted, "What is it?" Seizan, serene as ever, merely waited.

"This," Hokushin replied. He held out his hand towards us, a clear stone resting in his palm. I registered it as a memory crystal just as it flashed, and -

 _I fell into complete chaos._ The floor, the walls, the other generals, everything had vanished. I was in a storm, a hurricane of insanity, every colour and texture and shape and sound and taste and anything imaginable flooding my senses, and everything was mad, swimming, incoherent. I had no idea what was up or down, left or right, whether I had eyes or ears or a mind or not, where my hands or my feet were, if I even still had them-

Somehow, with great effort, I managed to right myself. _I need to move._ I had to do it fast. And I was trying to figure out how. But I was trying to tune the finest of miniature machinery with a brick. I was trying to dance, but I had ten thousand limbs and they were all over the place, everywhere. There was much, too much to keep track of. And while I was trying to manage all this, I knew there was something below or beneath me, something very close, that was trembling, shaking, like a faint but deep tremor foretelling a massive earthquake. It was fighting me, it was close to waking up, and I was doing my best to contain it-

Oh. There was someone in front of me. It was that human, glowing gold, standing and staring. I needed to get rid of him. If I were in my own body, I thought, he would be nothing more than a tiny, golden ant being ground beneath my heel.

Well. I could still make that happen.

 _But those aren't my thoughts,_ I realized, as this body managed to move with unexpected speed and lightness, all the while the tremors below growing stronger.

 _They were the king's._

I wasn't quite sure what I was witnessing as I bludgeoned the human to death. This was far from an optimal fight - it was primal, brutal, inelegant. Actually, there were two battles happening at the same time - one in physical space, with the human, and one at another level I couldn't quite comprehend, with something I couldn't see. I was astonished at how coordinated and efficient the physical fight managed to be, despite the pandemonium being juggled all round me. And somewhere in the mess of it all, all the while, I was fully aware that the shifting plates beneath me were about to slide out of my control-

It was slipping away. I could feel it. I was slipping. Right about now.

Oh well. _This ends here_. I knew I had mere seconds. I concentrated on my limbs, tossed the human afar, and readied one final shot.

At that exact moment, the earth erupted with a scream. I became aware of garbled words, characters - something _rice_ , something, _help_. I became aware of another thought of mine - of "mine" - almost inaudible: _I think that's his name_. And then, impossibly, the screaming grew louder, blinding my senses, overwhelming me, swallowing me alive in the most pure, unfettered, single-minded rage-

 _get out get out get the fuck out I'll kill you I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT-_

" _Sensui!"_ my mouth screamed. _"Get out of the way!"_

I blinked. And looked around. I was standing in the chamber again, with the other three generals.

"... the stinking hell's river was _that?"_ exclaimed Touou.

Even Seizan, who typically would have interjected with a calm reminder to Touou about his language, said nothing, unnerved by the vision we had just been subjected to.

"What the king showed me," said Hokushin. "The person whose body you were just in - he is our target."

"Who?" I asked.

"The king's descendant," Hokushin replied. "44 human generations down the line. He is in the Ningenkai now. We must find him."

You could have heard a pin drop.

We were completely stunned. Awed. Not only at what the king had discovered, but what he had managed to do.

Controlling free extant genetic material was insanely difficult even for the most powerful demons. That was why, in those rare instances when genetic manipulation was done, it usually took the form of preprogramming in the immediate descendant before any self-awareness had developed. And this host had power - nowhere near the magnitude of the king's, of course, and not refined enough to even match Hokushin's either, but there was power. Overriding a developed consciousness that many generations removed, at that level, was unheard of. The effort and finesse required was staggering.

I couldn't help it. The Unspeakable dared to cross my mind.

 _I thought the king was starving to death._

To think he could still pull off something like this. But of course, if anyone could have, it was King Raizen.

That miracle neatly resolved, my attention turned to the second impossible thing.

I cleared my throat nonchalantly as Hokushin tucked the crystal away in his coat. "So… how do we find him? What other information did the king give you?"

"That was it," Hokushin said. His inflection was completely flat.

"That was _it?"_ I exclaimed, forgetting myself. "We don't have a clue what he looks like, we have some gibberish the king _thinks maybe_ is his name, he's out in the Human World somewhere where there are billions and billions, and did I mention, _**billions**_ of humans in it, and not only do we have to _find_ him, we still have to _extract_ him from there, where we have no jurisdiction, and, and, aaaaand I'm sorry Iwillshutmymouthnow," I finished as Hokushin's expression grew more and more stern.

He stared at me for a few seconds more while I imagined with every ounce of my being that I was turning invisible.

Finally he said, "It's all right, Nankai. I said about the same."

My jaw hit the floor. _"You what?"_

The three demon kings were all immensely powerful, and their wrath manifested differently in accordance with their personalities. Yomi was known to be calculating and ruthless, and he liked to keep his hands clean of actually terminating his failures directly. Mukuro was unpredictable and callous, even cruel, never needing a reason for dispatching someone if the urge struck, and unlike Yomi preferred to be quite involved. King Raizen was by far the most fair and just, but he was a demon king through and through, and he had his limits of patience as well.

"I said those things to the king," repeated Hokushin.

I gaped. _"Then what happened?"_

"He laughed."

"Oh," I said. It seemed somewhat anticlimactic.

"It seems the king is in good spirits," said Seizan.

"Very good spirits," agreed Hokushin. "He was chuckling, even, when he was telling me about how he lost visuals from that blinding fury. He said it was a good thing his last shot had such a large radius. He seemed very amused."

"Incredible," I murmured.

"In any case," continued Hokushin, "that was what the king managed in his hour or so of possession. And that is far more than we could have expected. His hands were full with - well, you all saw. Driving the host and actively suppressing its aggressive consciousness."

I pondered this. "As difficult as that would have been," I said, "I still have a hard time imagining someone capable of booting the king out."

"Indeed," Hokushin said. "But as the king's descendant, his potential could be unfathomable. Ås the king said, finding him could prove the turning point."

My heart soared, thinking of an end to this centuries-old stalemate in the favour of our king.

And then it fell again as I remembered reality. "But where do we start? It's a bit of a... tall order."

"The site of the barrier break," Hokushin said. "Inspect the barrier for traces of any residual energy, evidence. Find witnesses. We must move quickly, before Yomi and Mukuro take note, if they haven't already. Too many people will draw attention. We-"

"Needle in a haystack," Touou interrupted skeptically.

"At least," mused Seizan, "it is a very angry needle in a haystack. With great motivation to find the king again."

"I'll say," said Touou. "That host was definitely pissed off."

I considered. I was the youngest, the most inexperienced of the four generals. But I considered our resources; the fact our king was dying; that if this happened, we would undoubtedly be on the losing side of a war with two other kingdoms; that this new intruder, related to the king or not, wanted to kill the king. I felt the situation warranted the question.

"Uh," I said. "Is this wise?"

For the first and only time during the duration of my involvement in this mission, I heard Hokushin sigh.

 **II. The view from the east**

Frankly, if the king hadn't been dying for centuries, and wholly disinterested in ruling the entire realm, we would have crushed the other territories easily a long time ago. The king's power was the obvious factor, of course. And anyways, the other two kings had right hands who, in my opinion, were shit.

I paused. Hokushin and Seizan were always reminding me to be more objective in my evaluations, that it would save me grief later. Fair enough. Kirin was actually rather formidable. Shachi was actually shit. I almost felt bad for Yomi. If I cared.

In any case, all other things being equal, the other territories would never have stood a chance. But things were not equal, so we were in a world where we were jumping through hoops to do the impossible in the hopes of surviving.

At least, I had been convinced tracking down the king's descendant was impossible. Getting to the Human World was a painful process with those implants, and that was just the easiest step. I had no fear of doing what needed to be done - I just didn't think it would work. But if it was the will of the king, so be it.

Not that I ever said this aloud beyond the generals' quarters. Not that there was much chance to do so anyways, since we had to move quickly and keep the knowledge within our small group. Hokushin was no fool; he must have had the same thoughts about our odds. But I never once heard him voice it.

Anyways, I was surprised. It wasn't as though it had been a walk in the gardens; far from that. But I had thought we would be lucky to know his face, even luckier to successfully match it to a name, luckiest of all for both. Yet in under a fortnight of frantic work, even with the barrier fully closing-

We did not have his face and his name.

We had his face, his name, his age, his birth date, his blood type, his height, weight, shirt size, pants size, shoe size, to name just a few of the next to useless facts we had been inundated with in the last four hours.

"It's not useless if you were trying to dress him," Hokushin pointed out.

Fair enough. So, in the wake of it all, I had been trying to be more objective in my evaluations.

"The Spirit World must have the worst security in the entire universe," I said. "I've stolen garbage from under Shachi's nose that was harder to get than this." I pawed through the piles of paper, trying to be helpful. This was really more Seizan's domain, or even Nankai's, than mine. But the two of them were still to return from their patrol activities, and we had to extract as much information from these findings as quickly as we could.

"Be objective," Hokushin repeated, poring through an opposite stack. "Shachi's personal security is not that lax. He guards himself better than he guards Yomi. And these are not exactly the most confidential of documents." He pulled out a few that caught his eye for more detailed perusal. "Mostly employment records. But I believe there may be some other information mixed in here as well by accident."

"Oh, really? How about this one. His peak energy level measurements in the last two years. An exponential curve." I waved the graph.

"That's promising," said Hokushin. "But not for right now. And yes, that would be related to his employment."

"Or this one," I said. "He's been placed under 'kill on sight' extermination orders as of five days ago. Oh, I guess that counts as employment history."

"Give me that," said Hokushin, grabbing the file out of my hands. His eyes scanned the paper rapidly.

He frowned. "Change of plans. I was hoping we would not have to connect with the Reikai till after we met with him. It might have eased our visit to the Human World."

"Well, he's still alive," I said. "Usually when Enma releases an order like that, the hit is done in 24 hours or less. He's flying well past the mark."

"The SDF would typically be quite excited about handling something like this, I imagine," Hokushin said. "Based on the other intelligence we've gathered, they don't seem to be as thrilled. Perhaps they've been pretending he hasn't been 'on sight'. But I am not about to risk the consequences." He picked up the stack of files he had pulled and left the room.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To write a letter," he replied over his shoulder.

...

"The man you are looking for is no longer employed by the Spirit World," said the administrator. He was alone; his coworkers had all fled the area. He was trying very hard to put on the disaffected paper pusher attitude, but I could easily tell he was quaking in his boots. Probably thinking, _The Reikai doesn't pay me enough for this._ I sneered at him, and watched the quaking intensify.

"It does not matter to our king whether he is or isn't," Hokushin said blandly. "This is merely a courtesy advisory that we will be coming to the Human World to begin his extradition. However, I must follow up on the part in the letter about a request for an escort to enable him to pass through the barrier. It is a bit more difficult for us to do that on our end, as you may imagine."

"You?" The man turned his nose up at us. To his credit, he managed to pull it off despite his obvious fear. "What gives a demon like you the right to make a request of the great King Enma?"

"I thought framing it as a request would be more polite," Hokushin replied. "As it assumes the Spirit World has some authority in such matters of transit between the Human World and other worlds. That would be appropriate, wouldn't you say?"

The man said nothing.

"Our king understands you are having challenges with the matter of your former employee," Hokushin continued. "We believe this would alleviate most of them. I trust we'll find your most willing cooperation in a week's time. If you have any concerns, you can take that up with King Raizen. I'm sure he'll be happy to attend to the matter personally."

Hokushin nodded to me to take our leave. We had reached the exit when he stopped in the door frame.

"And it hardly needs to be said," he added, without turning around, "but if anything should happen in the meantime before the extradition, our king will be… displeased."

As we strolled down the long corridor of the Reikai administration building, towards the gate, Hokushin said, "Now, we await a more official confirmation. Which I suspect should not take long."

"Only one last step left," I said. I looked over at him, expecting a triumphant expression on his face.

"Yes," he replied. "Only one last step left."

He didn't even crack a smile.

 **III. The view from the north**

"Your Majesty. An update."

"Go on."

"Enma has agreed to the escort. All that is left is to enter the Human World to extend a formal invitation. A party of three should be enough in case there are unforeseen circumstances. I will take Seizan and Touou with me. As you will be right here, I believe it is enough for Nankai to remain to maintain a general's presence."

The throne room echoed with deep laughter. "A thorough job, Hokushin."

"Thank you, my Lord. But not I alone. From all involved."

"From all involved."

A pause. The stillness was interrupted only by the sound of the king's stomach growling.

"Go," said the king. _"Bring me my 'son'."_

He laughed again.

 **IV. The view from the mountain**

The distant fire flickered. It was not ours; the light and heat belonged to the humans camping far below us. Hikers were not uncommon in these parts. We had no real fear of being found, but we did not seek to actively draw attention to ourselves, and we had no real need for a fire.

Touou had gone a bit further to scout out the area ahead. I glanced over at my old friend. I knew he was there, and I could see him with my own eyes. But with the implants, our demon energy had dwindled to nothing. It was eerie not being able to sense the familiar auras of our comrades, the steady pulse of living power we were so accustomed to in the Makai. It was a reminder of where things could go, if our mission did not ultimately succeed.

Hokushin was silent, staring towards the glow of the flames. He bore a stoic expression I knew all too well - that of a person who had been thinking far too hard and far too long about something by themselves, and could do with a bit of airing of such thoughts to obtain much-needed perspective. I had a fairly good idea of the nature of things that preoccupied his mind.

"Have you thought about what you will say?" I asked. There was no need to clarify _to whom._

Hokushin shifted, turned his head to look at the grass. "For days."

I said no more; I had proffered the invitation for him to get it off his chest.

He took it. "If he is anything like King Raizen-" he said, "and I trust he is - fame and riches will not sway him. Not that I am particularly inclined to offer those things. The only thing I know I can immediately appeal to is his need to settle a score. And I do not know if that will be enough. Or that it will be the right way." He chewed absently at his lips, a nervous habit I had not seen manifest in decades.

"He surely must know that the Spirit World is actively rejecting his presence, that he cannot stay in this realm," I said. Enma had made it clear the leadership of the Reikai was only too happy to rid itself of what was seen as a dangerous liability, and hinted that steps would be taken even if we were unsuccessful.

"But in the Demon World," Hokushin replied, "he could go anywhere. He could be anything, with any of the kingdoms. He has no ties to any of us, only to the king. And only in the form of blood, which here is meaningless. And a vendetta."

"If he does not see King Raizen fit to stand by, I cannot see how he would find Mukuro or Yomi more palatable," I said.

Hokushin shook his head. "He could reject all of the kingdoms. He could ignore them all, or run afoul of any of them. He could die, and be nothing. And we will have lost him. If he is not convinced…"

I understood. To make a compelling argument for him to truly stand with us - it could be the only possible way to turn the tide. In some ways, it was incomprehensible, ridiculous even, to think that our entire nation was resting on a single unknown decision, based on little more than potential.

And yet, it was not a lie to say it was something we had all been waiting for, hoping for, for half a millennium. He was the only new variable, our only possible trump card in 500 years. It was grasping at straws. Mukuro and Yomi were resorting to tactics that were not dissimilar - but they both had a clear advantage over us, the same one. One we had no defense against.

Time.

King Raizen's was running out.

"What do you plan on telling him?" I asked.

Hokushin looked down. "There is no getting around it," he said. "Our proposal is particularly one-sided in terms of anything we can offer. I am certain Mukuro or Yomi could easily make more appealing bribes. But he has every reason to distrust us, and if we set out to deceive, we will likely lose him."

He looked into the distance. "I have been thinking," he said finally, "to simply be honest. Tell him our story, present our case plainly. The king wishes to meet him. We want him to be on our side - if he can keep up. No softening the reality of the situation; he deserves to know what he would be in for. Let him feel in control of what little he has. And let him know that he does not need to make the decision at our meeting. I would give him a few days to take care of any personal matters before he departs the Human World. It is as singular a decision for him as it is for our kingdom."

He turned his gaze back to me, awaiting my judgment.

"I can find little fault in your logic," I said. "It is no shiny bauble, but it is the truth. And it sounds as kind and reasonable as it can be. If he will not take it, I do not know if I wish for him to stand with us." After a pause, I asked, "Will you tell him about the humans?"

Again, there was no need to clarify _what humans._

Hokushin looked at his hands. "No," he said. "I will leave that part out for now. He would not understand." I could tell from the way he said it that he had made that decision then and there, so that I could escape from weighing in if I did not wish to. That he had deliberated for ages, back and forth on the possibilities.

Even as he said those words, a shadow came across his face, and he seemed doubtful. "If he comes to the Makai first, and becomes familiar with our nation, all of our people, with the realities of the Demon World, then… at that time. That would make it easier for him."

I nodded. It was a difficult question. I did not know that I myself could make that call. And Hokushin was clearly not about to leave the decision or the discussion for the rest of us to struggle through.

"Forgive me, old friend," I said.

Hokushin looked surprised. "For what, old friend?"

"I was hoping to ease your burden in the task you are about to face," I said. "But I fear my questions did the exact opposite."

"Not at all," Hokushin replied. "At least I know I've been realistic in my approach."

"You are rarely anything less," I said unhesitatingly. "You will do the best you can. That is all you can do, and all anyone can expect." There was much at stake, but I did not say that. There was no point in belabouring the fact.

Hokushin was silent. And then he said, again: "I do not know if that will be enough."

I heard, _I do not know if I am up to this task. I fear I will fail._ It was as close as he would come to expressing or admitting as much through this entire ordeal.

"You must assume," I said, "as you have said - from what the king showed us, from all of our research, and for him to be capable of turning the tide, he must bear more than a faint resemblance to King Raizen. And of all of us, you know the king best. You have fought alongside him the longest, been his confidant and second-in-command long before Mukuro or Yomi ever rose to power."

"I suppose," Hokushin said, noncommittally.

"I can name no one better suited to the duty of recruiting our future king, if he is worthy," I said. _"No one._ Not even King Raizen himself, who has already raised the ire of our subject with his lack of subtlety, and in spite of His own Majesty, doesn't know what to do with himself sometimes. You know this to be true."

"I suppose," he repeated, still eyeing me cautiously.

"Thus, drawing this to a natural conclusion," I continued, "imagine this."

I paused, and waited for to him to tilt his head at me, curious in spite of himself, before I elaborated.

"Imagine he is _very much_ like King Raizen. A much younger, far less experienced, far more reckless, far less powerful, very small, possibly extremely stupid King Raizen who barely knows what to do with himself and desperately needs professional help. A _great deal_ of professional help. _For the next five hundred years._ "

Hokushin's eyes widened. "Good lord," he said. Then he laughed.

The sound was refreshing, relieving, not forced or restrained, and I joined him. After a while, he wiped his eyes. I reached over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Did that help take the pressure off?" I asked.

"Well," he replied, "now I'm not sure if I _want_ the kingdom to continue."

"Heaven forbid," I agreed.

"Such blasphemy." He smiled back at me, the first one I had seen on his face in weeks. "Thank you, old friend."

"Not at all," I replied. "No matter the outcome, you were here. We could never otherwise have come so far in so short a time."

Hokushin smiled, nodding. Suddenly he paused, and straightened. His eyes narrowed. I could practically see the gears in his head turning as he considered a new angle, a new possible development stemming from my suggestion of our target's possible mindset.

"He will pick a fight," Hokushin said. The corner of his lips quirked in a smile at his theory. "He wishes to know his opponents, and he does so best in the thick of battle."

"Do not forget yourself," I reminded him. "You are currently suppressed to a D-level state. He could crush you like an insect. You would make quite an impressive smear on the ground."

He laughed again. "I'm sure he will remind me of that. I have a few tricks up my sleeve - if I know what I'm doing. And at least I have the element of surprise." I could see the gleam in his eye. "This could be fun."

"Do not have so much fun that you end up getting killed," I warned. "Then where will we be with our mission?"

He chuckled. "No need for alarm, old friend. I am not King Raizen, and I know I am far from invincible." He folded his arms. "I have no illusions - this will be far from an equal match. I only need to make a point. But if we are successful, there will surely be other opportunities for a good fight."

"If there's going to be a good fight," interrupted a familiar voice, deep and rough, "I'm in."

We both looked up. Touou laughed. "How disappointing. I thought for sure I snuck up on both of you."

"In truth, you did," I said. "I was simply very good at not jumping. Or not very good at jumping."

"Guilty as well," said Hokushin. "Thank you, Touou, for the reminder to stay on guard. And thank you, Seizan. I feel much more confident now."

"That's good," said Touou with a smirk. "Because he's here."

We both looked at him. He threw out his hands. "Am I the only one working?"

...

I lightly pushed the branch out of my way. It was remarkable to think we were here, now, in this tree, overlooking this tiny human abode in the mountains. And there he was. Right there, in the house, behind the walls, chatting away with his human hosts.

The aura he radiated was far younger, far smaller, far weaker, than the king's immense presence. But in person, this close - the timbre of it, the resonance of it -

To the three of us, it was undeniable what it was. Unmistakable.

"What is that word humans use?" said Hokushin quietly.

"What word?" I inquired.

"When they express satisfaction at an outcome," said Hokushin. "I believe it comes from a game involving luck. Small tiles or spheres inscribed with numbers, rolling around in a box."

I scratched my head. "Bingo?"

"Yes. Bingo." He stepped off the branch, landing lightly on the ground. He peered up at me and Touou through the leaves, and smiled. "Shall we go meet our future king?"

Touou snorted. I smiled and nodded.

We walked to the front of the house, flanking our old friend. Standing on the porch in this human world, time seemed to stand still. I briefly allowed my mind to drift, to wonder for the outcome, for what our future might hold, before I pulled it back to the present.

Hokushin's gaze was fixed straight ahead. He did not glance at either of us as he reached out, his forefinger hovering for only half a second longer than necessary.

And then he pressed the button of the doorbell.

* * *

Author's notes: The title of this story comes from the Chinese 四面楚歌 (Sìmiànchǔgē) (しめんそか shimensoka in Japanese). It literally translates as "Four sides songs of the land of Chu", and essentially means "surrounded on all four sides" - a hopeless situation where you have been forsaken by everyone. This proverb relates the historical event of an already losing army stalwartly holding out for reinforcements in the mountains. The attacking army further broke the spirits of the defenders by singing folk songs of their homeland. The soldiers thought of their families, their homes, and were convinced that everything was lost. Many thanks to my sister for the suggestion.

Each of the four sections references part of the narrator's name: Nankai = Southern Ocean; Touou = Eastern King; Hokushin = Northern God; Seizan = Western Mountain. (I've used his manga name here as I usually do, instead of his anime name of Seitei or Western Emperor.)

 _Rice_ and _Help_ refer to two of the kanji that make up "Ura **meshi** Yu **suke** ".

This originally started as a flashback for an Ends of the Earth story entirely narrated by Nankai, but it just wasn't working. I got really obsessed with the idea, however, and finally decided to pull it out and make it its own story. Rereading the manga chapters/rewatching the episodes to try to reverse engineer as much as possible and fleshing out new interpretations for the various scenes and reactions was a very interesting exercise! Details are left vague enough so I didn't feel too bad about messing around with the timing of things...

One of the things that greatly endeared Hokushin to me so long ago was when Yusuke asked why he follows Raizen. His answer _("Because King Raizen is very much like you. Fighting alongside him makes me happy. And that is my greatest desire.")_ always really moved me, though it goes by so fast I guess it's easy for people to miss, and then forget that about his character. Boohoohoo they just all really liked fighting, man...

Unlike Seizan and Touou, both of whom you at least see a bit more, Nankai is a complete enigma in the manga - important enough to be named as one of Raizen/Yusuke's followers entering the tournament, but near the end of the series I feel like Togashi gave up on distinguishing them. I was pleased that in the anime, the four main monks all maintained distinct appearances, and the few times he appears he's usually kind of excitable or looking shocked. I've written walls of text about my interpretations of them on my tumblr (and in Ends of the Earth), but basically I think of him as the youngest/dorkiest of the four, but still in a more prominent role in Raizen's kingdom.

Regarding Raizen's control of Yusuke - I always found it fascinating that Togashi very clearly chooses to have Yusuke's eyes returning to normal _before_ he actually fires the shot and starts screaming for Sensui to get out of the way, and then angrily explains to everyone that when he fully regained consciousness the reigun was already fired. So here's an explanation from the other side. I'm surprised there still aren't more fanworks properly exploring the possession idea. Raizen's ability to remote control Yusuke via his genes is ripe for both dark stories and hilarity.

What a long Author's Notes. Thanks for reading all the way to the end!


End file.
